The Gift of a Smile
by Bowtiesandgracenotes99
Summary: Poor Vlad Masters is all alone on his birthday and takes a trip down memory lane. This one-shot contains NO SLASH whatsoever. Rated K, but there is ONE swear word.


AN: In case you didn't read the description, this is a one-shot about Vlad being all alone on his birthday, because I'm a firm believer that Vlad is simply misunderstood. Oh, and I don't own Danny Phantom. If I did there would be more than three seasons, and there'd be a whole lot less plot decay in the third season. Anyways, enjoy. :)

On the morning of Vlad Masters's birthday, he didn't even remember it _was_ his birthday.

He was still rubbing traces of a restless sleep from his eyes when he saw it. January 17, printed on the calendar on his bedroom wall in bold, red font. At the realization of what day it was, his usually sarcastic disposition spiraled into something more saddening.

No one ever called on his birthday, no one ever stopped by. Not even Jack, who was oblivious to Vlad's honed resentment towards him and still considered the two as inseparable friends. So, for the twentieth birthday in a row, he was alone.

With a sigh of despondency, Vlad rose from his king-sized bed in his luxurious master bedroom, one of many rooms in his colossal mansion fit for an emperor.

How was it possible for him to have so much, yet feel so alone? To be surrounded in such wealth, to be the very epitome of success, yet have a life so monotonous?

Watching Jack and his family didn't help things, he thought bitterly to himself. Jack possessed everything that Vlad had always wanted, everything that was supposed to be his. Everything that would have been his, if not for the accident.

That damned accident had ruined everything.

Maddie had been more self-aware during her college days. She'd showed every indication of being interested in Vlad, had responded positively to all his advances. And Vlad was no weak-kneed fool, he'd had every intention of asking her out the very day the accident happened. It would forever be burned in his memory, how he'd been seconds away from finally confessing his undying love, finally getting the woman of his dreams, when it was all mercilessly stripped away at the hands of Jack Fenton.

He winced at the memory. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt, before and to this day. First came the physical pain. It was excruciating, it was horrible, but he would have gone through it a thousand times just to avoid what had happened after it.

Once the ghost portal gone wrong had used up whatever Jack had put in it to cause it to malfunction, Vlad had collapsed on the floor in a fit of bodily spasms. Jack and Maddie, the only other two present, had stood speechless. After a few lengthy seconds of tense silence, Vlad had opened his eyes, which had been tightly screwed shut in agony just a few seconds before...

...and seen Maddie, looking at him with pure disgust.

They'd rushed him to the hospital, something about ecto-acne and a possible shock-induced coma. The doctors stuck needles in every part of his body imaginable, they'd even taken X-rays, but nothing could keep the image of Maddie's horrified expression out of his mind for even a second.

She'd even haunted him in his dreams during his stay at the hospital. He'd spent three weeks there, and though she and Jack had been religious about coming to see him the first week, their visits had become few and far between after that.

The ghost powers were subtle at first, hardly present enough to even be called powers. But when Vlad's hand would disappear at random and cause him to drop whatever he'd been holding, or when a nurse had walked in on him one day to find that his leg was inexplicably gone, he had found himself putting two and two together and reasoned that the only explanation, however radical, was that the accident had magnified the effects of ectoplasm and given him ghostlike qualities. Of course, he would later spend weeks of research discovering the entire truth, and he'd spend months after that looking into a cure, only to find that there seemed to be none. But he was sure at the time that there was still hope, that Maddie might still accept him for who he was.

Once they'd finally let him out of the hospital, he'd expected a "Good to see you alive and well again," from Jack and Maddie, or at the very least, a "Welcome home." Instead, he opened the door to the lab that the trio frequently utilized only to find his best friend, whom he'd told about his love for Maddie and who had even agreed to help him win her, kissing the love of his life.

The rage didn't settle in until later. All he could feel at that moment was the overwhelming sense of betrayal. It was like the accident all over again, but emotionally, and ten times worse. He knew then that he could never reveal what had really happened to anyone. If his own best friend had betrayed him, how could he trust anyone else?

Once Vlad had received word a few lonely months later that Jack and Maddie were to be married, he'd declined the invitation by promptly tossing it into the fire. When he'd heard about their children two and four years later, he was nothing less than livid. To add insult to injury, not only had the half-wit known as Jack Fenton given his so-called "best friend" a severe case of ecto-acne and ghost powers, his careless idiocy had done the same to his own fourteen year old son.

The worst thing was that the only two people Vlad truly cared for, Maddie and Daniel, thought of him as creepy and insane. They didn't realize that he would have given everything up, his riches, his plans for world domination, even his ghost powers, just to have them there with him. Just to know they cared for him, too.

Now feeling thoroughly dejected, Vlad found himself staring absentmindedly into his cold, ash-streaked fireplace. It figured that on his birthday, he'd be reliving his worst memories. At least the day couldn't get any worse, he thought, furrowing his brow.

Out of nowhere, the doorbell rang, pulling Vlad from his misery-laced thoughts. He hastened to answer the door, wondering who on earth would think to-

On his doorstep stood none other than the fourteen-year-old boy who thought of Vlad as his worst enemy.

"If you came to bother me, Daniel, I'm not in the mood." There was a thick layer of irritation in his tone, but nothing could cover the blatant cloud of depression that hung over him as he turned to go back inside.

"Wait, Vlad," the younger halfa stopped him. "I didn't come to bother you. I...well, I just heard my parents talking about how today was your birthday, and, um, I guess...I just decided to pay you a visit...to...uhh...to say happy birthday."

He finished and cautiously looked up at Vlad, who stared at the boy with one skeptical eyebrow raised. "How do I know you're not just waiting for me to turn my back so you can pull some childish prank on me? Do you really expect me to believe that someone who considers me his arch-nemesis would even care that it happened to be my birthday, much less come to my house to wish me a happy one with no questionable intentions whatsoever?"

"Well...no...but I thought I'd just try to be nice to you today..." the boy stammered. "I didn't want you to be alone on your birthday, so I thought I might come and...well...spend the day with you...if you want, that is."

"Be nice to me?" the older man questioned in a mixture of amusement and disbelief.

"You're right, this was dumb. I'm sorry, I'll go." Danny said sheepishly. He turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"So...what exactly did you have in mind?" asked Vlad, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his mouth for the first time in twenty years.

AN: So, sort of a weak ending, I know. But you should review this. Criticism is appreciated just as much as complements. Have a wonderful day!


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